American got brain amoeba due to tap water

In Seattle, a woman died tragically after being infected with a rare brain amoeba.

Фото: Depositphotos

An 69-year-old woman contracted an infection after doctors ordered her to wash the sinuses with a special solution.

Instead of using sterile water or saline, which is recommended when using the drug, the woman reportedly rinsed her nose with tap water, filtered through a Brita water purifier, the report says.

After using unsterile water for a month, she developed a skin rash on her nose and nostrils. Initially, she was diagnosed with rosacea - a chronic skin disease that manifests itself as persistent redness of the skin of the cheeks, nose, forehead, which manifests itself in the form of bright pink rashes, spider veins, pustules and skin atrophy.

When the rash did not disappear even after several visits to a dermatologist and a biopsy, the doctors became puzzled. One year after the appearance of the rash, the woman's condition worsened and she began to have an attack. The woman lost consciousness, and the left side of her body sometimes struggled in convulsions.

In the end, she underwent a CT scan, where she learned that she had an 1,5-centimeter brain lesion, the report says. Doctors initially believed that it was a tumor, partly due to the fact that there was breast cancer in the woman’s family.

The mass of dead brain tissue has made the diagnosis even more difficult. The medical team then took a sample of the mass and sent it to neuropathologists from Johns Hopkins University for further analysis.

After that, the woman’s condition began to deteriorate further, and the Johns Hopkins team suggested that the brain suffered as a result of amoebic infection. The victim was immediately sent for an operation to remove the brain mass, where doctors noted "clear evidence of amoebic infection and hemorrhagic necrosis."

“Despite aggressive antiamoebic therapy, the patient’s condition continues to deteriorate,” the report said.

After a woman’s death, laboratory results showed that the infection in her brain tissue and nasal rash was from an amoeba called Balamuthia mandrillaris.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Balamuthia first discovered in the 1986 year, and since then approximately 200 cases have been reported worldwide, with 70 confirmed cases registered in the United States.

The CDC notes that the infection is so unusual that "there may have been cases that were misdiagnosed."

Dr. Charles Cobbs, a neurosurgeon at the Seattle Swedish Medical Center, told LiveScience that, according to his suggestions, the woman contracted the infection because of the use of non-sterile water during the procedures, since the amoeba could be in tap water.

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